


Dog Days Are Over

by track_04



Series: Dog Days [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, NewS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Mild Gore, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-22
Updated: 2010-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-14 17:49:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/track_04/pseuds/track_04
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes being a bad ass monster hunter isn't all it's cracked up to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yararanger](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=yararanger).



> Fusion with Supernatural - takes place sometime during season 2. Written for 2010's Newsficcon. Beta'd and generally encouraged by Zee, who is a flawless human being. Title taken from [Dog Days by Florence and the Machine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TwqE2X55Wg).

"Ryo, you don't have to do this."

Ryo leaned into Masuda's personal space, arm against his throat and the blade of his knife pressed against Masuda's temple, the tip digging in just enough to break the skin, bright red blood welling up beneath it and trickling lazily down the side of his face. Masuda's eyes widened, his breath hitching in a way that made the corners of Ryo's mouth curve upward into a lazy smile.

"I know."

"Please, just—"

Ryo slid the knife down the side of the other's face, the blade making a soft noise against his skin, and enjoyed the way that Masuda's breathing stopped for a second when he brought it to rest against his throat, just above his jugular. Masuda needed to understand. This wasn't about _having_ to do anything.

"I want to do this."

Ryo watched the panic in Masuda's eyes and his smirk blossomed into a full on grin, a perverse spark of pleasure bubbling up inside of him. Masuda was doing a pretty good job of keeping himself grounded, of hiding his fear, but Ryo knew him better than anyone and he could see it there, just below the surface. He pressed the knife blade a bit harder against the other's skin, stopping just before he drew blood, and he could feel Masuda's muscles tense, could see the calculating look in his eyes as he went over his options and all the possible ways out of this situation in his head.

Not that it mattered, because none of them would work.

"I want to do this." He repeated, fingers tightening around the handle of the knife, and he knew it was true.

 

 

**4 Days Earlier**

Masuda could hear Ryo's voice as soon as he stepped off the elevator, loud and angry and carrying entirely too well through the hallway of the dingy little roadside inn they'd decided to crash in the night before. He couldn't make out the words, luckily, but the tone was enough to pull a sigh from him as he moved across the faded carpet toward their room, hotel key in hand.

An older couple passed him in the hall, rolling their non-descript black suitcases behind them and mumbling to themselves as they shot the door to Ryo and Masuda's room furtive looks on their way past. Masuda smiled at them, tried to look charming and not at all suspicious as he stopped and unlocked the door one handed, the other busy clutching the bags with their breakfast.

"No, we have our own shit to take care of." Masuda was half-surprised he couldn't see marks worn in the carpet with the way Ryo was pacing, his phone clutched against his ear and a tired look in his eyes. "We've already got a job lined up in Fukui."

Masuda caught Ryo's eyes and held up the bag, mouth quirking up on one side in a half-smile as Ryo waved him off and resumed his pacing. He sighed internally and set the bags on the table, opening them up and digging out their contents as he continued to listen to Ryo rant. He almost felt sorry for whoever was on the other end of the line—they'd just spent a week clearing out a mess of Kappa that had decided to terrorize a small fishing village halfway up the Noto Peninsula and considering it wasn't really fun or easy to take out _one_ of the things, having to handle a half dozen of them had been more than a little difficult and had ended with both of them more than a little bruised and battered, both literally and figuratively. Ryo had been more or less itching to give someone an earful for the past few days and Masuda hadn’t given him an excuse; apparently whoever was on the other end of the phone had.

"I don't understand why you can't do it yourself." Masuda heard Ryo's footsteps pause briefly before they started again, angrier than before. "Well, that's what you get for having an idiot as a partner."

Masuda arched an eyebrow, glancing at Ryo over his shoulder but not commenting. He had that sullen look on his face that meant that being cooped up in a car together was not going to be any fun. Masuda was tempted to try talking the other into just staying here a few more days. The hotel was old and the town was small, but they'd been worse places and they both needed a little bit of time to recharge their batteries. The job in Fukui was a few hours' drive from here at best and nothing so urgent that it couldn't wait. The trick was getting Ryo to listen and agree to reason—he could be extremely stubborn when he wanted to.

Luckily Masuda could be even more stubborn; he just had to decide if the battle was worth it this time.

"Okay, fine. I'll talk to Masuda and see what he says. Yeah, whatever, you owe us—you and Jin, both."

Masuda heard Ryo snap the phone shut as he pulled one of the wobbly plastic chairs around the table out, wiping it down with a napkin taken from the takeout bag before having a seat. "That was Yamashita?"

"Yeah. Asshole—he wants us to take a job in Tokyo."

"Tokyo? Did you tell him we were in Ishikawa? It's going to be at least a day worth of driving before we can even get there."

"I told him." Ryo tossed his phone on the bed and pulled out the chair across from Masuda, huffing as he plopped down onto it. "But apparently this involves one of his _friends_ , so he wants us to handle it."

Masuda nudged one of the food containers and a set of shrink wrapped plastic cutlery toward Ryo with a frown. "He can't do it himself?"

"No, he’s stuck with Jin down in Okinawa, apparently."

"Stuck?" Masuda opened up his food, throwing Ryo a skeptical look over the top of the container as he ripped the plastic off his knife and fork. "What did Jin do to get himself arrested this time?"

That actually got a snort and a half-smile out of Ryo. Masuda considered it a victory. "He said nothing, but I don't think I believe him."

"So, we're going to take the job?"

"I guess we have to—he said he was calling in his favor for Sendai."

"That was sneaky of him."

"I know. Fucker." Ryo stabbed at his breakfast a bit viciously and Masuda was pretty sure he was probably imagining it was Yamashita's face. Not that he would ever really stab anyone who wasn't some sort of supernatural bad guy out for the blood of innocents, but Ryo liked to think of himself as an asshole and Masuda never felt like contradicting him, even if he knew differently.

"So what's the job?"

"Some university students are losing their shit and acting all weird."

"Yamashita's friend was one of them?"

"No, but his friend knew one of the kids who did, apparently. From what Yamashita said it sounds like your typical low grade haunting, or maybe some sort of spell."

"Could be voodoo," Masuda mused between bites, his expression almost hopeful. They hadn't really had to deal with voodoo before, being in Japan, but it seemed like it would be interesting. All the stories he’d heard second hand from other hunters had always made it seem like a challenge--if, as he was sure Ryo would point out if he could hear his thoughts at the moment, a pain in the ass.

"Whatever it is, it probably won't be worth the drive. Especially not when Tokyo's crawling with hunters who could have handled it. He could have called Tanaka or Taguchi, but no."

"Maybe he did and they were busy."

"He better not have," Ryo grumbled, looking offended at the suggestion. "Bad enough if we get conned into doing this because he's off with Jin doing… whatever down in Okinawa. Even worse if we were just the backup plan."

Masuda shrugged and gave Ryo a wry smile. "So, are we doing research now or on the road?"

Ryo sighed. "Might as well do it on the road."

\--

Masuda ended up calling Yamashita back for more details once they were packed up and on the road, since Ryo hadn't actually officially told the other that they were taking the job (even if Yamashita seemed to be taking that as a given). Either way, they would have had to talk to him again, anyway, since all Ryo had managed to get before he’d hung up were the last name of Yamashita's friend and some very vague details, none of which were enough to go on. Masuda didn’t like running into jobs half-cocked and ill informed, and it was the one thing that he and Ryo always agreed on completely. They'd stumbled into jobs without enough information before, especially in the beginning, right after Ryo had begrudgingly agreed to let Masuda shadow him and they were still getting a feel for each other and learning the ins and outs of partnership, and they'd been lucky to make it back out of some of those jobs alive, if not unscathed. Masuda really wasn’t eager to make that same mistake again. Ridding the world of evil (or whatever you wanted to call their job) was dangerous enough as it was.

Masuda didn’t really mind having to do the grunt work, anyway, and Yamashita seemed relieved not to be dealing with Ryo. It gave Ryo time to cool off a little anyway, enjoy the breeze through the open windows of the car and sing along with the radio under his breath when he thought Masuda wasn’t looking.

For his part, Masuda took pages and pages of notes and pretended not to notice Ryo mouthing along with the words of some girl group pop song as he grilled Yamashita for every detail he had. When he finally hung up an hour and a half into their trip, Yamashita seemed relieved to finally be off the phone and Masuda felt a lot better about this job now that they had more solid information to go on. They’d still have to do more research and question people at the school, but this at least gave them a better starting point.

Masuda set his phone on the dash and reached for his bag in the backseat, turning just enough to unzip it and dig his laptop out. He stole a glance at Ryo as he opened the computer and fired it up, smiling a little as he watched Ryo still singing along to the radio like he really didn’t know Masuda was watching, the music almost too low to make out any of the words. Masuda leaned over and turned it up a little and Ryo blinked, throwing him a look that wasn't quite a smile.

"Did Yamashita give you anything good?"

Masuda shifted the computer in his lap and moved his notebook to the console between them, open to the first page of his scrawling notes. "I think some of it will be. I got contact info for his friend--” he stopped and glanced over at his notebook, then back at his laptop. “Kusano Hironori. Fourth year performing arts student at Meiji University. He’s expecting us to give him a call when we get there.”

“How much has Yamashita told him?”

“About us? He knows we’re hunters. He was the one who told Yamashita and had him call in the cavalry in the first place."

“That makes it easier.” Ryo reached over, hitting the next button on the CD player, more out of habit than anything. “Did you get any info on the other students that have flipped?”

Masuda nodded, eyes fixed on his computer screen as he tried to connect to the wifi, the mountains on either side of the highway and the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere making it difficult. “I got names of the last two--Kusano’s friend and the guy before him. I’m going to do some searching before we get there and see if I can dig up anything else.”

“Great.”

Masuda watched Ryo reaching over to fiddle with the radio buttons again out of the corner of his eye and smiled. "It sounds like it shouldn't be too bad."

"That's good. I could go for an easy job right now." Ryo stopped messing with the radio and brought his hand back to the steering wheel, his shoulders relaxing visibly. "I'm still pissed at Yamashita, though.

"Yeah, he knows."

\--

"A drama student?" Ryo gave him a distinctly unimpressed look over the rim of his coffee cup, glancing away from the fake transcripts and student I.D.s with their pictures that Masuda had spread out across the table in the small western style cafe they'd dragged themselves to (well, Ryo had drug himself, anyway--Masuda had already been up for three hours by that point) for breakfast. It was small and probably a place that a lot of people would have considered a bit of a dive, but it was clean, which made Masuda immensely happy, had coffee that was a lot better than the swill they had up in their hotel room, which made Ryo immensely happy, and it was only a few blocks from part of the Meiji University campus, which made them both happy _and_ let them scope things out a bit while they ate.

Masuda took a bite of his pancakes to cover his smile and shrugged, doing his best to look innocent. It usually wasn't that hard, since people saw his face and just assumed he was harmless, but Ryo knew him better than that and the way the other was staring at him now said a much.

"Seriously, you couldn't make me a student of something less… fruity."

Masuda swallowed and didn't bother trying to hide his grin. "Yamashita's friend is a drama student. This will be the easiest way to get information."

"But you said that he knows we're hunters."

"He does."

"So what does it matter if I'm pretending to be a drama student or not, then? It's not like he's going to be wondering why I'm talking to him."

"Because other people might wonder. This will look the least suspicious, and if there's a witch or someone hexing people we don't want them clued into us." Masuda gave him a Look, because Ryo already knew all this and really didn't need Masuda of all people to remind him. Ryo actually looked a little contrite, even if he did still grumble under his breath.

"So, we get to be drama majors. Great—we don't get enough looks already when we share hotel rooms."

"We're not drama majors."

"But you just said—"

"Actually you're the drama major. I'm studying biochemistry." Masuda met Ryo's eyes and smiled a bit sheepishly at the incredulous look the other was giving him. "The most recent student to lose it was in Biochem. I thought if I passed as a student I could attend a few classes and poke around for more information."

Ryo looked incredibly not pleased. “So you get to run off and play scientist and I have to wear tights and prance around stage?”

“I thought you’d make a more convincing drama student.”

“What’s that supposed to--”

“I’m a terrible liar most of the time,” Masuda reminded him. Ryo pointed it out to him often enough that he was surprised the other could even forget. “And acting is all lying, right? I wouldn’t be very convincing.”

“I guess you’re right.” Ryo grumbled and picked up the fake I.D. with a sour look. "And I look more like an actor, anyway.”

Masuda grinned and pulled another sheet of paper out of his bag to hand it off to him.

“What’s this?”

“Class schedule for Kusano. I thought you could shadow him after your meeting while I work on finding out more about the last victim. If you stick to the bigger classes no one should notice an extra student hanging around.”

Ryo sipped his coffee as he eyed the schedule and sighed. “Fine, but I’m not going to enjoy myself.”

“Of course not.”

\--

Masuda decided that he didn’t really mind being a student. It was a nice change, for once, from pretending to be insurance adjusters and cops and investigative journalists, a role that he finally felt like he almost fit into. He always felt a bit too young looking and suspect when he and Ryo had to play their usual parts, but sitting in the student commons while he scoped things out, an open book and his laptop and a notepad spread out before him, he sort of felt like he belonged.

There’d been a time, years ago, back before he’d met Ryo and sort of stumbled into this life as a hunter of all things that went bump in the night, that he’d thought about college--planned on it, even. Sitting here now, he couldn’t decide if he was sad that he’d missed the chance or not, if he would have preferred a quiet life with books and going out for drinks with friends to what he had now.

“Massu?”

He blinked, looking up at the boy staring down at him, bag slung over one shoulder and wearing a careless, if slightly uncertain, grin. He practically screamed student, from his slightly rumpled clothing to his dyed hair, and Masuda was pretty sure he would have pegged him as being in University even if they weren't in the middle of the student commons right now. Masuda returned the smile and nodded without thinking, too caught off guard by someone using a nickname that he hasn’t heard in years-- _knowing_ that nickname, since even Ryo didn’t call him that--to think better of it.

“I thought that was you.” The boy--well, more like a man, just an exceptionally young looking one--slid into the chair across from him and rested his bag on the floor, still grinning from ear to ear. “What are you doing here? Are you a student now?”

“I--” Masuda started, a lie on the tip of his tongue. Then he blinked again and looked at the man across from him, really looked, and felt a wave of realization and nostalgia hit him like a ton of bricks. “Tegoshi?”

“You didn’t know who I was, did you?” Tegoshi grinned but didn’t look offended, the expression so much like the awkward, bright boy that Masuda had been friends with all those years ago that he found himself offering up an idiotic grin of his own.

“Your look different,” he blurted out before he had time to stop and think about it.

“I'm not 17 anymore.” Tegoshi laughed and leaned back in his chair. “You look the same. You haven't changed your hair since high school."

“I like this hair." Masuda laid his pen down on the table, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be scoping things out for their job and just enjoying the other’s company. It had been years since he’s seen him--since he’d seen any one from his life before hunting, really--but he felt himself slipping back into the role of friend so easily that he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. "You're a student now?"

“Third year in Psychology. What about you?"

“What?”

"You go here now?"

Masuda blinked as Tegoshi waved a hand to indicate the book and notepad spread across the table and he reached up to rub the back of his neck, laughing nervously. “Oh--not really. Just in town for a few days on business.”

“What business?”

“Just... looking into something.” Masuda gave himself a swift mental kick, trying to think up a way to change the subject and failing miserably. “I investigate things.”

“Like a private eye?” Tegoshi actually laughed at that and Masuda furrowed his eyebrows at him. "I'm sorry--I just can't imagine you doing that. I mean, you were always good at research, but you're not very subtle."

"I guess not." Masuda smiled because he really did have a point and shrugged. "I mostly do the legwork. My partner does all the hard stuff."

"Thank god for that." Tegoshi grinned and Masuda couldn't really find it in himself to feel offended. It wasn't like any of it wasn't the truth, anyway. Tegoshi's smile faltered a little as a brief silence settled between them, his face taking on that thoughtful look that Masuda still remembered. "I never thought I'd see you again."

The words were more a statement of fact than an accusation, but Masuda felt himself flinch anyway. "I'm sorry I never really got a chance to say goodbye. Everything was really... sudden."

"It's okay." Tegoshi had his head tilted to the side and was looking at him with that knowing expression that he sometimes got. People had always accused Tegoshi of being a bit oblivious, but Masuda had always thought that he saw and just chose not to comment most of the time. "Things are okay now, right?"

Masuda hesitated for a moment before nodding, wondering suddenly how Tegoshi would react if he told him the truth--about his life, his job, about witches and spirits and all those bad things that people talked about like they were just stories actually being _real_. About the real reason he'd left in the first place, about Ryo and the thing that had killed his family. It was right on the tip of his tongue, but he bit back the urge and forced a smile instead. Knowing always changed people, and usually not for the best. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Tegoshi smiled and looked mostly satisfied with the answer. “Do you have any plans for lunch? We could grab something to eat and catch up. My treat.”

“I, uh....” Masuda started to say no and then stopped and nodded slowly. An hour or two out of a day really wouldn’t hurt anything. Besides, he owed Tegoshi after the way he’d cut him out of his life without warning all those years ago. Even if it was for his own good. “Sure.”

"I know a place with really great pie." Tegoshi grabbed his bag from the floor and stood, throwing him an excited look. Masuda started to pack away his things slowly, methodically, and smiled while Tegoshi fidgeted beside him. Things really hadn't changed much.

\--

It turned out the place with really great pie was closed, so they went to a small ramen shop tucked away on a little used side street that Tegoshi assured him was just as good. It was also, apparently, owned by one of his friend's families, so they got a discount and extra-friendly service on top of decent food, both of which Masuda appreciated.

Toward the end of their meal he got a call and excused himself from the table, stepping outside to take it (he would never not think that talking on a phone in the middle of a restaurant wasn't rude). It turned out to be Ryo calling to check in and the conversation ended in just over two minutes, after Masuda told Ryo he was working on a lead with a student (which wasn't a total lie--Tegoshi was a student here, so it stood to reason he might have heard _something_ ) and Ryo had a chance to bitch about how much he hated hanging out with "all these pansies", although he did concede, grudgingly, that Kusano wasn't that bad.

When Masuda got back, Tegoshi had already taken the liberty of ordering them dessert and was grinning at him in that knowing way.

"Was that work?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. The guy I work with was just checking in to see if I'd found anything."

"So what are you guys here to investigate?" Tegoshi stared at him across the table, reaching for his fork and plucking a slice of strawberry off the top of his piece of cake with a grin.

"Just something that's been going on on campus."

"The people who've been losing it, right?"

"Uh, yeah. You know about that?"

"Top ranking students freaking out for no real reason? Word gets around." Tegoshi popped the slice of strawberry into his mouth. "Especially if you're a psych student. We pay attention to that kind of thing."

"So what have you heard?"

Tegoshi shrugged, chewing thoughtfully. "I know that the administration doesn't want anyone to think they're related, but people are freaked. I know that the last two guys to have a major freak out weren't the only ones."

"They weren't?" Masuda reached for the bag resting on the seat beside him and dug out a notebook and pen without even stopping to think about it. He didn't even realize what he was doing until he caught sight of Tegoshi's smile.

"You really are here on business, aren't you?"

"Sorry--I probably should have asked."

"It's okay. It's just weird, seeing you this intense." Tegoshi smiled a little. "Not that you weren't before. I guess it was just all reserved for swimming."

"Yeah." Masuda glanced down at his notebook and then back up at Tegoshi with a serious expression. "You're sure this is okay?"

"What do you need to know?"

Masuda uncapped his pen and offered Tegoshi a smile. "Let's start with the basics. Tell me about the other freak outs that you know about."

\--

Masuda had barely set foot in their room that evening before Ryo started bitching. It probably would have annoyed anyone else, but Masuda was used to it by this point. It felt more familiar and welcoming and like home than anything. Which probably said something about just how weird his life was, but he was pretty sure that no one who did exorcisms and chased after ghosts and slept with a silver plated knife on the nightstand had a life that could be considered normal, anyway.

"The TV's broken."

"You hate TV," Masuda pointed out reflexively, smiling a little when he spotted Ryo stretched out on one of the beds, trying very hard to look put upon and completely bored with the book he had open in front of him.

"I like it for the noise." Ryo closed his book with a sound of disgust and tossed it aside. Masuda could feel the other watching him as he set his bag on the empty bed and started to carefully sort through its contents. "I need a distraction from my homework for tomorrow."

"Homework? I didn't even know they could give homework in drama." Masuda paused and turned to give Ryo a curious look. "What do you have to do, read a play or memorize lines?"

"No." Ryo pursed his lips, scowling as Masuda stared at him questioningly. "I'm supposed to be using tonight to reflect on my journey through the birth canal so I can re-enact it for class tomorrow."

Masuda didn't even bother trying not to laugh. "Seriously?"

"Apparently to express ourselves as performers we need to know where we came from." Ryo looked vaguely disgusted as he swung his legs off the edge of the bed. "I told you this stuff was ridiculous. Who takes classes on this shit, anyway?"

"Lots of people."

"Yeah, well, they suck. Most of them, anyway--Kusano's pretty cool."

"Did you manage to get anything out of him?" Masuda finished sorting his bag and zipped it back up, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and leaning over to plug his laptop into the outlet behind their nightstand.

"Not much more than we already knew. All of the students who flipped out were apparently normal, got good grades, really well liked by everyone who knew them. Before they went off the deep end, at least." Ryo's face looked thoughtful. "Kusano said his friend who freaked stripped naked in the middle of class and then tried to strangle their professor with his belt. Having met the professor in question, I can't say I blame him, though."

"The guy who gave you your 'homework'?"

"Yes. Total douchebag." Ryo wrinkled his nose.

"So what clued Kusano into it being something other than stress or a nervous breakdown or..."

"Drama student weirdness?" Ryo finished and Masuda gave a brief smile and nodded. "He said other than that the kid was normal. Quiet, pretty reserved, didn't really speak up in class--which seems weird for a drama student, but apparently he was decent when you got him on stage."

"No history of mental illness or chance that he was drugged?"

"Nothing Kusano knew about and nothing I could find in his records when I checked." Ryo smirked a little as Masuda gave him a surprised look. "Yes, I checked his records. I _can_ do research myself, you know. I got by just fine before you started tagging along."

He smiled but decided not to respond to the teasing challenge in the other's voice directly. "And he didn't remember what happened?"

"No, he remembered everything, but said it felt like he wasn't in control of his body." Ryo gave him a significant look. "What about you? Any luck with the biochem geeks?"

"Not exactly." Masuda looked down and pretended to fiddle with his computer. "I sat in on one of the morning classes, but I couldn't find anyone who really wanted to talk."

"Then who were you talking to when I called?"

Masuda blinked, caught off guard for a second. He'd forgotten that Ryo had called when he was at lunch with Tegoshi. "A student I ran into in the commons."

"So, you're making friends now?" Ryo arched an eyebrow and Masuda shrugged, turning back to his bag to avoid looking the other in the eye.

"We just hit it off," Masuda mumbled, not really in any rush to tell Ryo about Tegoshi, considering he'd essentially blown their cover with him. Old friend or not, Ryo wouldn't like it. Actually, he wouldn't like it _especially_ because Tegoshi was one of Masuda's old friends; Ryo always got weird when it came to reminders of Masuda's life before hunting, all uptight and guilty, and that wasn't really something they needed to deal with while they were on a job. "He's been following what's been going on."

"That's kind of morbid."

"He's a psych student. He finds it all interesting."

"Yeah, morbid."

Masuda laughed and risked throwing Ryo a look over his shoulder. He looked slightly suspicious but unwilling to push it, which was a little weird. Ryo was almost always willing to push things. "I don't think we really have room to call anyone morbid."

"Probably not." Ryo admitted, his expression relaxing into a half-smile. "So, what did psych boy know?"

"It's happened to at least two more students over the past three months. There was a first year studio art student who tried to drink paint thinner before one of her friends tackled her and got her to stop, and then a third year English major who decided that she could fly and tried to jump out of a fifth story window during a lecture."

Ryo whistled lowly. "I hope someone caught her."

"Some other students stopped her before she made it off the ledge."

"And let me guess--both model students with no history of mental illness who said they felt like they weren't in control of their bodies when it happened?"

"That's what it looks like." Masuda paused. "Apparently the gossip is that the English student said that she heard a strange voice and felt the air get colder around her before it happened."

"So, we're definitely dealing with a ghost, then." Ryo looked almost relieved, something that Masuda knew in the back of his brain would probably seem odd to other people who didn't do this everyday of their lives; most people probably wouldn't consider having to take on a pissed off, vengeful ghost something to be at all pleased about. When you dealt with this kind of thing everyday and knew just what other things were out there, though, ghosts were relatively easy. "I guess this means we get to spend the night researching and trying to figure out how our victims all fit together?"

"I thought we could start after dinner." Masuda grinned, unable to help himself. "Unless you're going to be too busy with your homework."

Ryo glowered at him, but Masuda could see the corners of his lips twitching as he suppressed a smile.

"I can go get dinner and give you some time alone if you want," Masuda offered with an innocent smile. Ryo threw a pillow at his head, mumbling something about smart ass pigs and how much easier this job was without a partner.

\--

They ended up not finding anything that night to really narrow things down; They'd both stayed up until well past three, pouring over papers and internet articles and reports trying to find some sort of connection between their three victims, but to absolutely not success. Everything they read seemed to point in the same direction: that their victims had absolutely, positively _nothing_ in common.

Different majors, no mutual friends, no shared jobs or classes or past history or anything that made it seem anything less than random. If Masuda didn't know in his gut that they were working with something otherworldly here, he probably would have chalked it up to a set of strange coincidences.

Luckily he'd learned a long time ago that there was no such thing as a coincidence. Not that knowing that made their job any easier.

Masuda felt bleary eyed the next day, the lack of sleep making him feel lethargic and not at all ready to tackle the campus library in an effort to dig up something more concrete. They'd decided to use a divide and conquer strategy of sorts--Masuda at the library, looking for any violent deaths and campus ghost stories that might clue them into their otherworldly culprit, and Ryo to class with Kusano to see if he couldn't dig up something more on the drama student that would lead them in the right direction.

Masuda still hadn't told Ryo the truth about Tegoshi, just referred to him as another student whenever it came up in conversation, which luckily hadn't been much. He felt a slight twinge of guilt about that, since he felt like he probably owed Ryo complete honesty at this point, but something had stopped him every time he'd opened his mouth to mention it. He wasn't sure if it was a selfish need to keep something to himself, just this once, or if it was because he knew that if he brought it up Ryo would get that pinched look on his face and would shut himself off, claiming everything was fine while he silently brooded about the past and blamed himself for pulling Masuda down with him into this life spent chasing monsters and living in one shitty motel room after another.

It didn't matter how many times Masuda tried to convince him that there was nothing to feel guilty about, that things had just happened this way and that he didn't mind being here, didn't mind this life; Ryo never believed him. Masuda would never admit it, but sometimes he wondered if it wasn't because sometimes a very small, hidden part of himself didn't really believe it when he said those things to Ryo, either.

Maybe it was that part of him that kept him from mentioning Tegoshi to Ryo.

Whatever the reason that he hadn't come clean, his guilt over it was making it hard as hell to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing at the moment. He'd managed to pull some of the older records--campus and local newspapers, collections of stories that might give some clue who their vengeful spirit of the week was--but he hadn't managed to get much further than that. Everything he read seemed to trickle out of his ears as soon as he'd finished reading. It was making him frustrated with himself, which made concentrating even harder, which in turn made him more frustrated. A vicious cycle if there ever was one.

He'd just finished skimming a campus newspaper from the late 80s when he heard the scrape of the chair across from him being pulled out. He rested his finger on the page as he looked up at his unwanted guest, marking his place even though he knew he'd have to re-read the entire thing again. "I'm sorry, but I'm trying--"

"To work, right?" Tegoshi slung his bag over the back of the chair and leaned forward, elbows on the table and a slight edge of mischief in his smile. "I know. I'm supposed to be researching for a paper, but I thought I'd say hi. Funny, that I don't see you for five years and then I run into you twice in two days."

"Yeah." Masuda smiled. "Some coincidence."

Tegoshi laughed softly and eyed the papers strewn across the table. "Looks like you're busy here."

"Not that busy."

"I was going to offer to help, but if you're not that busy..."

Masuda shook his head, laughing softly. Tegoshi had always been far too good at poking his nose where it didn't belong and making you feel like you were the one who wanted it there. "I thought you had to research."

"I'll still get a decent mark even if I don't." Coming from anyone else it probably would have sounded conceited. Coming from Tegoshi it just sounded like fact. "Besides, how often do we get to see each other?"

"Okay." Masuda sighed, smiling a little to himself. "But only if you promise not to get bored and start distracting me."

Tegoshi opened his mouth like he was going to protest then closed it with a grin, no doubt remembering all the failed study sessions they'd had in high school because Tegoshi couldn't keep his attention from wandering to books and video games and discussions that had nothing to do with the task at hand and distracting Masuda in turn. "I promise." He reached for the nearest stack of papers and pulled it towards himself, eying it curiously. "So, what are we looking for?"

"Deaths on campus--suicides, accidents, anything that would have been violent." Masuda decided to leave out the part about anything that would have been violent enough to leave a seriously pissed off revenge-seeking spirit behind.

"What does this have to do with what's been happening now? These papers are all at least two decades old."

"We're looking for... evidence. Something that might link to this."

"You think this happened before and someone died?"

"Something like that." Masuda forced a small smile, hoping that the fact that he wasn't out and out lying wouldn't make it obvious that he wasn't telling the whole truth. Tegoshi had always been notoriously good at telling when he was lying. Almost as good as Ryo. "If we can figure out what happened before, we might be able to stop it now."

For a moment Tegoshi just stared at him, looking like he wanted to argue, but instead he just nodded and returned the other's smile. "Tell me where to start, then."

\--

It took a good eight hours and every bit of his and Tegoshi's attention, but at the end of the day Masuda felt like he had a pretty solid, if despairingly long, list of possibilities for their ghost. It only covered thirty odd years worth of violent deaths on campus, but he was banking on the death they were looking for being recent. At the very least, it gave them a good place to start. With a bit more poking around and maybe even some luck, they might even manage to whittle it down to the one name they were looking for before any other students were affected.

Not the ideal way to work, not by a long shot, but he'd take it over nothing.

Ryo had already ordered by the time Masuda arrived at the tiny restaurant around the corner from their hotel--little more than a counter, a row of stools and a beat up TV playing prime time dramas that neither Ryo nor the one other customer there were paying attention to on a shelf in the corner. It wasn't much to look at, but it was clean, cheap, and nearly empty, which meant they could eat in peace and discuss business without getting too many eaves droppers or weird looks.

"Hey." Ryo nodded as Masuda slid onto the stool beside him, looking slightly apologetic as the other glanced at the bowl of udon that he was already a quarter of the way through. "Sorry I didn't wait."

"It's okay. I was late." Masuda waved off his concern, frowning a little when Ryo went straight back to eating. "You're hungry tonight."

"I had to skip lunch.".

"Ryo--"

"Don't get all mother hen on me." Ryo paused long enough to give Masuda an annoyed look. "It was for a good reason."

"You always say that."

"That's because it's _true_."

"And what was your good reason today?"

"Kusano took me to talk to Kame."

"Who?"

"Kamenashi Kazuya--the drama kid that went apeshit." Ryo grinned at him, the expression clearly stating that Masuda wasn't allowed to be irritated with him, no matter how much he wanted to be. Masuda really was not a fan of that look.

"I thought he was still on lock down in the hospital psych ward."

"Just got out. He's not really supposed to have company, but Kusano convinced his family that they should let him see a couple of old friends."

Masuda looked away just long enough to take a menu from the waiter and then turned back to Ryo with an impressed look. "What did he have to say?"

"Not much that we didn't already know." Ryo shrugged, but looked far too self-satisfied as he slipped a hastily folded piece of paper from his pocket and tossed it onto the counter in front of him. "But I did manage to swipe this when he wasn't looking."

Masuda reached out to unfold the paper and smoothed out the creases, revealing what he guessed was a program for a play, not feeling nearly as disapproving over Ryo having sticky fingers as he probably should have.

"It's for the play that the drama department put on last term," Ryo said before Masuda had a chance to finish reading, obviously too wound up about his find to give him a chance to puzzle it out for himself. He reached out and slid the program out from beneath Masuda's fingers and flipped it open to the cast and credits. "Any of these names look familiar?"

Masuda scanned the rows with a soft frown. "Kamenashi, Ikuta, Watanabe--that's everyone except the English student."

"And I'm willing to bet if we dig a bit deeper we'll find out she was involved, too."

"In the audience, maybe?" Masuda guessed, lifting his eyes to meet Ryo's. "Sounds like our ghost is tied to the drama department."

"Can't say I'm shocked. If anyone would make a melodramatic ghost it would be one of the drama weirdos." Ryo snorted and reached for the program, re-folding it and stuffing it back in his pocket. "What about you? Any luck hunting down the usual suspects at the library?"

"Some. I managed to make a list of deaths dating back to the 80s, but it's pretty long. I can start checking for people connected with the drama department now, though."

"I can help," Ryo offered around a mouthful of noodles.

Masuda hesitated for a moment and then shook his head, feeling slightly guilty. Taking Ryo's offer would have been the smart thing to do, really, but Tegoshi had mentioned that he'd keep an eye open for him if he stopped by the library tomorrow, and that small, selfish part inside of him had him making up excuses to keep Ryo from tagging along before he could think better of it. "Maybe you should tag along with Kusano again. If the death was recent he might know something."

"You sure?" Ryo frowned, looking slightly suspicious. "I know you really like getting your nerd on, but that's a lot of work for one person."

"It won't be that bad. I already did most of the legwork today." Masuda looked down at the menu in front of him, using it as an excuse not to meet Ryo's eyes. "If it gets to be too much I can call you and you can come give me a hand."

"Okay." Ryo turned his attention back to his noodles, but didn't look quite convinced. "But considering I'm going to have to put up with that god awful pantomime class again, you owe me."

"I'll make it up to you," Masuda promised, unsure if he felt more guilty or relieved that Ryo wasn't pushing. He reminded himself for what seemed like the hundredth time that day that he was doing this _because_ he didn't want Ryo to be upset.

It didn't make him feel any less guilty than any of the ninety-nine times that came before it, though.

\--

No matter how hard Masuda tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew that he'd packed up and gotten to the library early because he was hoping to see Tegoshi there. Ryo hadn't said anything when he'd woken up to Masuda already dressed for the day and packing salt and lighter fluid and all the other ghost hunting necessities into his bag alongside his laptop and notebook, luckily, but he had given him one of those looks that said he knew that something was up and he was just choosing not to mention it. Masuda just pretended like it wasn't there and smiled at him on his way out the door, promising to call him if he found anything.

Now he was at the library, throwing all of his attention into pouring over newspaper articles and police reports and doing his best not to think about it. It wasn't as if Ryo didn't have secrets; it was only fair if Masuda had one of his own for once.

He was also making it a point not to think about Tegoshi's promise from the day before and glance at his watch every five seconds, wondering exactly when the other would be dropping by. He tried to convince himself that if Tegoshi didn't make it by it really wasn't a big deal--he was a student and probably had things to do that didn't involve keeping Masuda company, things that were probably more fun than hanging out in the library, sifting through musty papers and reports online, looking for something that Masuda couldn't even tell him the truth about. Besides, it wasn't like Masuda hadn't ditched him for five years. It wasn't really fair to expect Tegoshi to want to keep him company now that he was starting to realize just how much he'd missed him.

Of course, all of this didn't stop the relief he could feel in his own expression when he heard a chair being pulled out across from him and looked up to see a familiar smile.

"Hey." Masuda met Tegoshi's eyes and grinned, straightening from where he was hunched over his laptop.

"Hey," Tegoshi echoed, his smile widening. "Still hard at work, I see."

"No rest for the weary." Masuda shrugged, laughing softly. "How's the studying going?"

"Not at all." Tegoshi reached for Masuda's notebook and slid it towards himself, ignoring the look of irritation that Masuda gave him out of reflex. "So, are you any closer to figuring things out?"

"A little." Masuda watched Tegoshi read over the list, hesitating for a moment, unsure how much he could tell the other without telling him _too_ much. "I'm trying to narrow down the list to people connected to the drama department."

"You think this has something to do with the drama department?"

"That's what it looks like." Masuda shrugged. So much for not going into too much detail. "Three of the students who freaked out recently have had some sort of connection with the department."

"Really? How'd you manage to figure that out?"

"Something my partner found."

"This is like being in a detective drama.." Tegoshi grinned and looked slightly impressed. "I guess that makes me the guest star who hangs around for an episode and helps you catch the bad guy, doesn't it?"

"I guess it does." Masuda smiled a little at the thought. "Although if this was a drama we'd probably be spending a lot less time in the library."

"They'd probably just condense all the research into a snappy little montage," Tegoshi agreed. "So, what can I do to help out?"

"Help me go through that list and figure out if anyone there is related to the drama department."

"So, anyone who was a student or faculty member there?"

Masuda nodded. "Or whose death was related to the department."

Tegoshi lifted his eyes, his expression thoughtful. "Like someone who died there?"

"Yeah." Masuda met his eyes, frowning a little at his expression. "Why? Do you know of someone who died there?"

"Not exactly. There's a story, though."

"A story?"

"Yeah. I think it's mostly just a campus legend, though." Tegoshi met Masuda's eyes across the table and shook his head a little. "It probably doesn't have anything to do with this."

"You never know. A lot of legends are based on truth."

"The theater is supposed to be haunted." Tegoshi met Masuda's eyes and laughed a little, like he was embarrassed for bringing it up. "The rumor is that a student killed herself there in the late sixties--hung herself on the stage to get revenge against a professor she was having an affair with because he wouldn't leave his wife for her."

Masuda's eyes widened a little, almost imperceptibly, and he slid his hand across the table top, reaching for his pen. "Does she have a name in the story?"

"Satoh Erina." Tegoshi shook his head, still looking a little embarrassed. "But I really don't think she's real, Massu. It's all just an urban legend."

Masuda shrugged, pulling his notebook back to himself and jotting her name down in the margins next to his list. "Maybe not, but the legend might lead us to the truth. It gives us a better place to start, anyway." He turned to his laptop, pulling up the school library's catalogue with a grin. "I think you might have just earned your spot as guest star, Tegoshi."

Tegoshi laughed and leaned forward to rest his elbows against the table. "Think if I keep it up I might get a spot as a reoccurring character?"

"Only if you really impress us."

"Well, then, we'd better get to work. I wouldn't want to be recast."

\--

Ryo was standing outside a mostly empty classroom when Masuda found him, looking surprisingly at ease and like he was made for the part of the student he was playing as he leaned against the wall and talked with another student and an older man that Masuda was willing to bet was a professor, judging by the way he held himself. Ryo was laughing at something that one of them had said and it caught him off guard for a second, seeing Ryo smiling and talking with strangers so easily. Ryo was good at playing parts and interacting with people when the job called for it, but this was different. He actually looked open, like he was _enjoying_ himself.

It made Masuda feel better about the time he'd spent with Tegoshi over the past few days, if a little sad. Ryo was always so worried about Masuda missing out on having a normal life that he didn't seem to stop and think that he was missing out on that life, too.

Ryo must have heard the squeak of his tennis shoes against the tiled floors as he approached because he shifted his gaze, looking past the shoulder of whoever he was talking to and fixing his eyes on Masuda. Something about his smile changed as he lifted his hand and gave a small wave. Masuda couldn't quite decide if that was a good or a bad thing. It didn't look like a _bad_ smile that the other was giving him, per se. It just looked more... typical. The kind of smile Masuda had come to expect from him.

"Hey." Masuda stopped a few steps away, bowing his head and smiling politely.

"This is my cousin Keisuke." Ryo pointed at Masuda and he offered another polite smile, covering the fact that the fake name caught him off guard for a second. He'd gotten so used to using his actual name with Tegoshi that it felt a little weird to be using one that wasn't his again. "Kei, this is Kusano--" he indicated the young man standing across from Ryo, arms crossed over his chest and a knowing, slightly amused smile on his lips. "--and Professor Horioka."

The older gentleman--Professor Horioka, Masuda ammended in his head--smiled and gave Masuda a brief once over, the glance almost too quick to catch before he pasted on a business like, incredibly fake smile. "Nice to meet you, Keisuke. Are you a student here like Ryota?"

"Yeah. Biochemistry."

"Ah, science. Ryota here must have been the one to get all the artistic abilities, then." The professor smiled, expression almost too pompous to be real. "Well, I guess we can't all be as talented as your cousin is. He's already something of a star in my class, you know."

"Oh?" Masuda glanced at Ryo from the corner of his eye and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at just how hard the other was blushing. Across from him, Kusano was making no effort to hide his amusement, and Masuda could kind of understand why Ryo thought he was an okay guy. Not that he was probably thinking that right now, if the embarrassed way he was staring at the floor at the moment, probably plotting all the bloody ways he could kill the professor and end his embarrassment, was any indication.

"He has a gift for acting." Professor Horioka smiled and reached out, clapping Ryo on the shoulder. "One that I don't intend to let go to waste."

"It won't with you there to guide him, sir," Kusano spoke up, earning him one of those pompous smiles from their professor and a look from Ryo that he usually reserved for the moment right before he stabbed things in the heart.

"No, it won't. I'll make sure our Ryota goes places." The professor dropped his hand from Ryo's shoulder (much to Ryo's relief, Masuda thought) and glanced at his watch. "Well, it was nice chatting with you boys, but I need to be off to a meeting now. I look forward to seeing what you have to offer in class tomorrow." The words were, Masuda guessed, intended to be directed at both Kusano and Ryo, but the professor didn't take his eyes off of Ryo as he said them. It would have been slight creepy, if it hadn't been so amusing.

Masuda waited until the professor was down the hall and around the corner before he turned to look at Ryo, unable to hold in a laugh any longer. "You're going places?"

"Shut up," Ryo ground out, giving Masuda his best scowl. "Both of you--I don't want to hear it."

Kusano arched and eyebrow and laughed under his breath, but had apparently learned enough about Ryo over the last three days to know when not to push. He turned to Masuda instead, sharing an amused smile with him before bowing his head ever so slightly. "You must be Masuda? Nice to meet you."

"You, too." Masuda smiled, trying not to steal glances at Ryo out of the corner of his eye just to see how the redness lingering on the other's cheeks.

"I've heard a lot about you from Yamashita. Thanks for coming to help out. I'm not really set up to take care of this kind of thing myself and all the hunters I know are busy."

"It's no problem," Masuda answered automatically, giving the other man a curious look. "You know a lot of hunters?"

"Some of my extended family are hunters. I never really picked it up, but I know a lot of people in the business." He grinned, the expression relaxed, and Masuda decided that he liked him. "I try to keep my eyes open and keep people informed if I see anything going on."

"We appreciate it."

"Maybe we'll even be able to solve this one soon," Ryo mumbled, obviously trying to cover his embarrassment with annoyance.

"Actually, I think we will."

"Really? Did you find something?"

"I think I know who we're looking for." Masuda nodded, reaching into his bag to pull out a carefully folded print out, offering it to Ryo. "Satoh Erina."

"Are you kidding?" Kusano took a step forward and peered down at the print out with a frown. "I thought that was just a story." At the questioning look that Ryo gave him, Kusano continued, "She was supposed to be a student who killed herself in the Theater. They say she haunts it now, but I've never seen any evidence of a spirit there. I always thought it was just a legend."

"It took a little digging, but I found a former student by that name from the sixties." Masuda reached out, pointing at the print out still clutched in Ryo's hands. "She was killed in an accident during a play rehearsal in the auditorium. The scarf she was wearing got tangled up in the ropes that controlled the curtains for the stage. Whoever was working them didn't realize until it was too late and she ended up strangled to death."

"Wow." Kusano made a face, looking surprised and slightly horrified. "I always thought that was just a story someone made up to tell at parties."

"Apparently it wasn't."

"Why would she wait this long to attack people, though? The theater's been in constant use since then. She could have started picking people off anytime she wanted to."

"Because the drama department decided to perform the same play that she was rehearsing when she died." Ryo re-folded the print out and gave Masuda a significant look. "I'm willing to bet this is the first time they've performed it since she died."

"The play from last year?" Masuda could hear Kusano let out a low whistle. "I remember that play. Horioka was the one who picked it--said the department needed to revisit its roots."

"I should have known that douchebag had something to do with this." Ryo handed the the paper back to Masuda with a frown. "Did you find anything about her remains?"

"Cremated." Masuda shrugged and Ryo looked unsurprised. "But I did some searching and apparently the department still has her scarf in with their costumes."

"Well, that's morbid."

Ryo wrinkled his nose, looking for all the world like he agreed. "Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's go burn the bitch."


	2. Chapter 2

Finding the scarf in question and sending it up in flames didn't take long with Kusano's knowledge of the various nooks and crannies the department used to store their props and costumes. Even without his help, Masuda had a feeling it wouldn't have taken that long to find, the scarf hanging off a hook in a pretty conspicuous spot, no one making any sort of obvious effort to hide it. They didn't even run into any trouble from other students or faculty or even cleaning staff, the halls of the drama department oddly empty, no one around to walk in on them and spot the scarf burning in a metal trashcan that they'd filched from an unlocked office and ask what the hell they were doing.

It was almost anti-climactic, how easy it all was, and if Masuda hadn't known how very _not fun_ it was when things didn't go easily like that, he might have been vaguely disappointed. As it was, he was just relieved and tired and, if he was being honest, a little bit sad that it was over.

Not that he _wanted_ the ghost to keep hurting people; he was glad that she was done suffering and that life on campus could go back to normal now, but he knew that this meant they didn't have any reason to stick around here any longer and that by this time tomorrow they'd probably already be on their way to the job that was still waiting for them in Fukui, without so much as a chance for Masuda to tell Tegoshi goodbye. He knew it was probably best that way, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

He decided to focus on the fact that they'd finished another job and put a soul to rest without sustaining any injuries or really even so much as breaking a sweat instead. It didn't happen that often in their line of work, so it was a nice change of pace. And even if they were leaving tomorrow he had gotten to see Tegoshi again, so that had to count for something--even if it did mostly just mean that Masuda realized how much he'd missed him during the years he'd spent avoiding his past.

They let Kusano drag them out for a celebratory dinner with little protest. Masuda really wasn't in much of a mood for socialization, but Ryo seemed to really like Kusano's company and he knew that if he bowed out, however gracefully, Ryo would just end up spending the night either annoyed at him for not being there or worrying that something was wrong, and he really didn't want to ruin the other's chance to unwind. So he smiled and nodded at Kusano's offer and let himself be dragged to a yakiniku place that Kusano swore up and down was the best in all of Tokyo.

Masuda wasn't sure about the best, but it was really good, and even if he was tired he still found himself smiling and enjoying Kusano's stories and ready laughter. Ryo seemed to be enjoying himself, too, looking relaxed and happy despite the dark circles under his eyes, and Masuda decided that that, if anything, was worth it.

"So, how did you guys become hunters?" Kusano was on his third beer and talking a bit louder than was probably wise. Luckily the other diners around them were either even further into their beers than Kusano and weren't really paying attention to what he was saying, too caught up in their own dinners and conversations.

"My uncle was a hunter." Ryo looked a little less relaxed as he reached for his beer, his mouth pulled tight around the edges and his eyes getting that slightly distant look that they had whenever Ryo talked about this. "He raised me, taught me the lifestyle."

Kusano nodded, smiling a little. "My uncle's a hunter, too. I used to beg him to take me with him and show me the ropes, but my mom threatened to gut him if he tried it."

Ryo laughed, his mouth relaxing a little. "Your mom sounds scary."

"You don't even know the half of it." Kusano grinned and grabbed a piece of meat off the grill. "Honestly, I probably would have run off to join up with some hunters after high school if I hadn't been afraid she'd track me down. I might see if she'll bend a little on the issue after I graduate, but who knows--she's dead set on her kids having a normal life."

"There's nothing wrong with having a normal life."

"It just seems kind of pointless when you know there's more out there." Kusano frowned slightly, his eyes sliding over to Masuda as he sipped at his beer. "What about you? Were you born into this, too?"

"No. I kind of stumbled into it," Masuda admitted with a rueful smile, glancing at Ryo out of the corner of his eye. Kusano stared at him, obviously waiting for him to elaborate. "My parents and older sister were killed when I was 18. I started reading up on the supernatural after that and one thing lead to another, I guess."

Kusano gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm guessing their deaths weren't from anything normal, then?"

"Not unless you consider a demon normal."

"Shit, I'm sorry. That's rough." Kusano took another sip of his beer, obviously searching for words to fill up the sudden awkward silence at the table. Masuda could practically feel Ryo tense beside him, obviously doing the same. "Did you kill it, at least?"

"No." Masuda reached for his mostly full beer and took a sip, smiling sadly as he pulled the glass from his lips and rested it back against the table. "Ryo did."

"Guess that explains the partnership, then."

"Yeah." Masuda turned his head to look at Ryo, noting the way the other had his eyes fixed on the table, jaw clenched and hand wrapped tight around his glass. He opened his mouth to say something reassuring that might wipe that look off Ryo's face, something that would remind him yet again that he hadn't had anything to do with what had happened to Masuda's family, but a familiar voice cut him off before he even got a chance to try.

"Massu?"

Masuda could feel just how wide his eyes were as he whipped his head around to find Tegoshi standing beside their table, looking pleasantly surprised to see him there. "Tegoshi. Hi."

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" He looked from Masuda to his companions, his smile a little uncertain and Masuda shook his head, not really sure what else to say. Luckily (or not, as it were) for him, he didn't have to say anything, since Ryo took care of that for him.

"You're a friend of Masuda's?"

"We grew up together."

"Tegoshi goes to school here now," Masuda added dumbly, watching as Kusano motioned to Tegoshi and the other took the empty seat across from him, making some sort of comment about how small the world was that Masuda didn't really hear, too intent on trying not to look at Ryo. He didn't think the timing for this could be any worse. "Tegoshi, this is Ryo and that's Kusano."

"Nice to meet you." Tegoshi gave a quick, polite bow of his head and then grinned, turning toward Ryo. "You must be Massu's partner. I've heard a lot about you."

Ryo blinked, shooting Masuda a look out of the corner of his eye and smiling a tight lipped smile. "I can't really say the same about you. Sorry."

"That's okay." Tegoshi laughed it off and Masuda swore he could practically feel the tension radiating off Ryo from the chair beside him. "We fell out of touch for a few years."

More like he'd cut Tegoshi out of his life, Masuda amended mentally, but he barely had time to register the thought, let alone correct the other, before Ryo spoke again.

"You must have been surprised to see him here tonight, then."

"Not really tonight. We've been running into each other on campus a lot the past few days. I think I'm starting to expect it."

"Really?" Ryo shot Masuda another look, not even trying not to be obvious about it. "He didn't mention it."

"Probably too tired from all that research he's been doing." Tegoshi glanced between Masuda and Ryo, his smile faltering a little. He hesitated for a moment and then rose from his chair again with an apologetic look. "I have to meet some friends so I should probably go. It was nice meeting you all, though." He nodded to Ryo and Kusano and then turned his attention back to Masuda. "Maybe I'll see you again before you leave, Massu?"

"Yeah. Call me and maybe we can meet up."

"I will," Tegoshi promised, offering one more smile before he turned and left, leaving Masuda alone at the table with a very confused looking Kusano and an unsmiling Ryo.

Well, he'd gotten his chance to say goodbye to Tegoshi before he left, at least. Now he just needed to figure out how to explain to Ryo that he'd lied to him for his own good. It was going to be hard, considering he wasn't entirely sure he still believed that excuse himself.

\--

Ryo didn't get angry and tell him off on the way home. He didn't say anything to him at all, actually, the silence on the walk back to their hotel almost deafening. Masuda started to apologize a few times, to try to make excuses and explain, but stopped before he could ever get the words out. All it took was one look at Ryo's expression, more sad and resigned than hurt or angry, and the words dried up in his mouth.

Ryo was still silent when they got back to their room, digging a t-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms out of his bag before he disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Masuda alone with his currently far too guilty thoughts.

He should have told Ryo about Tegoshi, shouldn't have kept it a secret from him. But it honestly had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He hadn't had any way of knowing Tegoshi would just happen to be at the same restaurant they were tonight. There was no way he could have seen this coming.

Still, none of the excuses that he was readily making in his head actually made him feel any better about it. The look that Ryo had been wearing on their walk home had been the exact type of thing that he'd told himself he was trying to prevent.

Masuda listened to the shower run and tried to come up with the right words to apologize. He wasn't really surprised when he couldn't manage to find them and ended up just sitting on his bed silently when Ryo emerged from the bathroom, stealing awkward glances at the other while he toweled off his hair.

Ryo, in true Ryo fashion, didn't exactly do anything to make it any easier, either. He did a pretty good job of not acknowledging Masuda's presence at all, in fact, and once he'd finished with his hair and tossed his wet towel back into the bathroom (not bothering to hang it up, most likely because he knew how much wet towels on the floor irritated his partner) he climbed into bed and turned his back on him without so much as a word.

Masuda sighed and went to take his own shower, deciding to leave it until morning. Maybe he could think of something to say by then.

\--

Masuda woke up after a few hours of fitful sleep to the sound of his phone ringing from the nightstand. He reached out for it blindly, barely registering Ryo's low grumbling from the other bed or anything aside from the incredibly irritating electronic squeal of his ringtone. He decided then and there that he was changing it to something less grating the first chance he got, still half-asleep as he flipped it open and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Massu?" Masuda rolled onto his back and rubbed at his eyes as he turned his head to glance at the clock on the bedside table. 7 am. When had Tegoshi ever gotten up at 7 am? "Did I wake you?"

"No--I mean, yeah, but it's okay." Masuda yawned, turning his head to blink up at the ceiling. "Did you need something?"

"You said you were leaving today, so I thought if you wanted we could meet for breakfast before you leave. If you have time."

"I--" Masuda glanced over at the other bed and the Ryo-shaped lump under the blankets and started to say no, but something about the hopefulness in Tegoshi's voice stopped him. Taking an hour to meet Tegoshi for breakfast wouldn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things.. If he left now he could probably be back before Ryo even woke up and he'd just leave a note explaining where he was in the meantime.

Probably not the best way to mending things between them, but he was tired enough at that moment to not really care. It wasn't like he expected to ever see Tegoshi again after this, anyway.

"Massu, are you there?"

"Sorry." Masuda cleared his throat quietly, turning his eyes back to the ceiling. "Breakfast sounds good. Where did you want to meet?"

\--

Masuda dressed as quickly and quietly as possible, careful not to wake Ryo as he slipped a note onto the nightstand beneath the other's book and then headed out the door. He felt a small twinge of guilt as he slid it shut behind him but brushed it aside, reasoning that this was probably his last chance to see a good friend and there would be plenty of chance to make this up to Ryo later.

It was already warm out as he made his way toward campus, the streets of Tokyo alive with people making their way to work or school or, in a few select cases, stumbling their way home after a long night. Masuda smiled a little at those, remembering some of the all nighters that he and Ryo had pulled on jobs in the past. He wondered how many well-dressed, normal people had assumed that the two guys stumbling their way down the sidewalk, dirty and battered (and in Ryo's case, probably glaring daggers) were making their way home from a bender.

His smile faded abruptly when he remembered that he'd probably be the one Ryo was glaring daggers at when he returned to their hotel later. Or, worse yet, giving him that sad, hopeless, guilty look that said he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and Masuda to decide he wanted to leave.

Masuda couldn't ever decide if that look made him want to give the other a hug (although, honestly, that probably would have just been awkward) or smack him.

The cafeteria already had a decent sized crowd when Masuda got there, something that he hadn't quite been expecting. He'd always been a bit of a freak in high school for being a voluntary early riser and most of the people that he knew didn't suddenly start liking to get up this early once they switched from high school to university classes. It seemed to be just the opposite, in fact. He'd always just assumed that most college students were dead to the world before 9 am and, if they weren't, that they definitely weren't in the mood to go out for breakfast.

The unexpected crowd meant it took a bit longer to search the sea of faces for Tegoshi, a search that came up empty and left him lingering in the doorway, glancing at the faces of everyone who walked in and feeling more than a little awkward. He was just getting ready to walk outside and call the other to double check that he hadn't gotten the wrong place when his phone went off in his pocket, the ringtone less irritating now that he was up and awake.

"Hello?"

"Massu, I'm so sorry! The professor I work for called after I talked to you and needed me to pick up some things from his office. I only thought it would take a couple of minutes, but I can't find the papers he wanted--" There was a brief shuffling sound in the background, like someone sorting through stacks of papers and Masuda smiled, imagining the look of frustration on Tegoshi's face. "I'm not sure how much longer it will take. I don't know how he finds anything in here."

Masuda laughed softly. "Do you want me to just meet you there?"

"Are you sure? I know you probably have to leave soon..."

"It's okay," Masuda assured him. "I can help you look if you're not done when I get there and we can have breakfast afterwards. We're not leaving at any set time."

"Only if it's not too much trouble," Tegoshi said, but Masuda could imagine the way he was smiling at his phone, bright and a little guilty, but mostly relieved. "His office isn't far. We can go to the cafeteria after."

"It's fine," Masuda promised and listened carefully as Tegoshi gave him directions. He hung up his phone and shoved it back in his pocket, hoping that back at the hotel Ryo had decided it was a good day to sleep in.

\--

Tegoshi was still frantically searching his professor's office when Masuda arrived a few minutes later, and after seeing the office in question he couldn't say he was surprised it was taking him so long. It was a small office, but every surface was covered in stacks of books and papers thrown here and there with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Masuda's hands itched with the need to start straightening things just looking at it.

He ignored the urge and shoved them in his pockets instead, lingering in the doorway as he watched Tegoshi continue to search. He'd offered to help but Tegoshi had politely turned him down, pointing out that there wasn't really enough room for both of them to go poking around without causing some sort of massive paper and book filled avalanche and reassuring him that it wouldn't take that much longer.

Tegoshi kept up a steady stream of talk while he searched and Masuda had to smile at that, remembering how quiet and awkward Tegoshi had been when they'd first met, the little boy with long hair and wide eyes and an almost fanatical love of soccer next door. He'd always been so reluctant to talk back then, until he'd realized that he really didn't have to say or do anything to impress Masuda other than be himself. After that, he'd practically never shut up. Masuda hadn't realized just how much he'd missed that chatter.

"Ah, I found it!"

Masuda chanced stepping into the office then, deciding that he was probably safe from falling debris or something jumping out at him now that Tegoshi was no longer digging through the piles. He stopped on the other side of what was probably a desk beneath all the stacks and stacks of papers and grinned as Tegoshi turned to wave the papers he was not clutching in his hand triumphantly in the air.

"Do you need to drop those off somewhere before we have breakfast?"

"No, it's good. He just wants me to give them to him when we meet later." Tegoshi shook his head, setting the stack of papers on top of the desk with a smile.

"I don't think I'd put those there if I were you," Masuda mumbled, eying the other papers on the desk like they would jump and swallow the stack beneath Tegoshi's hand and the other would have to start his search all over again.

"Don't worry. I won't lose track of them." Tegoshi laughed and stuffed the papers in his bag with a grin. "See? They're safe."

"Good." Masuda grinned back. "Ready for breakfast?"

"Yeah." Tegoshi's smile wavered a little as he leaned forward against the desk, resting his palms flat against one of the precarious looking piles of paper. "Sorry about this. You're probably in a hurry to leave and I'm wasting your time making you watch me look for things."

"You're not wasting my time. It's nice to see you." Masuda smiled, his tone genuine. If Ryo was upset that they had to leave a little later in the day, well, he would deal with that. It wasn't Tegoshi's fault and he didn't plan on telling him and making him feel guilty about something that wasn't his fault. "I'm glad you called."

"I'm glad you came." Tegoshi laughed. "You should have brought your partner with you. It would be nice to get to know him, too."

"Ah, he's not really a morning person." Masuda reached up, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I thought it would be best to let him sleep."

"That's too bad." Tegoshi looked away from him, reaching out to pick up a heavy-looking leather bound book from the desk, fingers skimming over the cover idly. "This would be easier if he was here."

"Easier?" Masuda frowned, giving the other a puzzled look.

"Keeping you here. I can't let you leave, you know. Either of you."

"What--" Masuda started but stopped as Tegoshi lifted his head, his eyes flashing red beneath the fluorescent lights overhead. He froze, all the air seeming to leak out of the room as he reached down and slipped a hand in his pocket as surreptitiously as possible, reaching for the vial of holy water that he kept hidden there. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think you know, Masuda." Tegoshi's words trailed off into a low growl, his lips curling upward and eyes narrowing in an expression that looked wholly out of place on such an angelic face.

"You're not Tegoshi." Masuda's expression hardened and he thrust his hand deeper into his pocket, fingers scrambling frantically against the worn material, only to find nothing.

"Actually, I am. Or this body is his, at least." Tegoshi lifted his hand and tossed a familiar looking vial onto the desk between them, letting out a sharp bark of laughter. "I think that's what you're looking for? Not that it would do you any good, you know.. I'm not some paltry little demon that's scared of getting wet. It takes more than a few parlor tricks to stop me."

"Let Tegoshi go." Masuda curled his hand into a fist at his side and narrowed his eyes, giving the thing standing across from him the nastiest look he could muster. "If you want me you can have me. Just don't hurt him. He doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Sorry, but I've got orders. No letting him go until I'm done with him." Tegoshi smiled again and lifted his other hand, waving Masuda's phone in the air beside his face with a grin. "And if you don't want me to hurt him, you'll do me a favor and call your loverboy Ryo for me. My master wants him here and he'll come if you ask."

"No." Masuda bit out the word, fingernails digging into his palm as he tightened his fist.

"You're just making this harder on yourself, you know." Tegoshi sighed and shook his head, the look he gave him almost sad. "And I don't have time to waste arguing with you, so I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."

"What do you me--" Masuda started but Tegoshi lifted the hand still holding the book, bringing it up and over until the book smashed against the side of Masuda's head, sending him reeling to the side and making his world explode briefly in pain before everything faded into darkness.

\--

Masuda opened his eyes slowly, able to process two things: an almost blinding pain in his head and Ryo's voice, extremely unhappy if the volume and amount of swear words that he was saying were any indication. He groaned as he turned his head to search for the source of the bitching, wanting to tell him to please keep it down and stop making his headache worse. His eyes didn't seem to want to focus properly, though, and a voice cut into his thoughts before he could manage to finish blinking the last of the fuzziness away.

"Well, looks like someone decided they didn't want to miss all the fun."

"Tegoshi?" He turned his head to find the other standing a few feet away, staring down at him with a smile that looked more animal than human and a wicked-looking knife clutched in one hand. Masuda started, squirming away from him and trying to pull himself into a defensive position on reflex, only to find that he couldn't move, his hands and feet bound tightly behind him by what felt like some sort of rough hewn rope. He tried to move them, testing the strength of the knots as he glanced around, fighting the fuzziness in his head as he looked for something he could cut his bindings with or some other means of escape. His search didn't turn up anything useful, but it did help him realize that they were no longer in the cramped, paper littered office and instead seemed to be in the middle of the stage in the school's otherwise empty auditorium.

And they weren't alone. Ryo was kneeling a few feet to Masuda's left, trussed up with his hands and feet tied behind him, bleeding sluggishly from a gash above his temple. That explained the swearing, at least.

Masuda felt his heart sink. This situation was definitely not looking so great for them.

Tegoshi grinned and waved the knife in the air, clucking his tongue. "Now, now, Massu. I already told you that I can't let you go anywhere. I have orders."

"Let us go or you're going to regret it." Ryo spoke up, his voice rough and about as pissed off as Masuda had ever heard him, which was saying a lot.

"I don't think so." Tegoshi continued to smile, twirling the knife between his fingers idly. "I think you're going to stay right there until I kill you for getting in the way, just like my master wants."

"Listen, you little prick. I didn't hurt you because that body you're wearing is Masuda's friend, but I swear to god, if you don't cut me loose now--"

"You'll what, kick my ass? Please, you fight like a girl. I didn't even break a sweat taking you out the first time. What makes you think it would be any different the second?"

"Why don't you untie me and we'll see about that?"

Masuda shot Ryo a warning look that the other ignored, too busy staring at Tegoshi, hatred and frustration and something that Masuda recognized as being close to hopelessness in his eyes. This was not good. If he didn't do something Ryo was going to taunt Tegoshi--or whatever it was riding Tegoshi's body around at the moment--into a fight that would probably end with one or both of them bleeding.

"Your master," Masuda started, cutting off whatever Ryo had been about to say and forcing Tegoshi's eyes and attention over to him. "You said your master wanted us. Why?"

Tegoshi shrugged, looking briefly puzzled. "Because you got in the way. I don't know. I don't ask questions."

"You're going to kill us and you have no idea why? What are you, the demon equivalent of a little bitch boy?"

Masuda caught a flash of red in Tegoshi's eyes before they slid over to Ryo, the look he gave him dark and dangerous enough to make Masuda's stomach drop. If they got out of this alive, he and Ryo were going to have a serious talk about not taunting supernatural creatures who had you at a disadvantage. Especially not when they seemed so intent on killing you.

"I am not a demon. Or anyone's little bitch. You'd do well to remember that."

"Oh yeah--" Ryo started but Masuda cut him off, speaking over him and trying to pull Tegoshi's attention back to him. Ryo threw him a severely annoyed look but he ignored it, telling himself that Ryo could be as annoyed at him as he wanted to be as long as he was still _alive_. "Who's your master?"

The distraction seemed to work, thankfully, Tegoshi's gaze turning away from Ryo and back to Masuda, his expression slightly amused. He looked for a moment like he might answer, but a voice from the curtain behind Ryo and Masuda beat him to it.

"That would be me."

Masuda turned his head to spot a familiar looking man standing just behind Ryo, a smug expression on his face as he moved around them to stand beside Tegoshi. He lifted a hand and ran it against Tegoshi's hair and Tegoshi let out a low, contented sound that almost like the low growl. It sounded almost like the sound Masuda could remember his cousin's dog making when someone scratched behind her ears. Masuda had always kind of hated that dog.

"Oh great, just what we need, a total douchebag to keep us company." Ryo swore under his breath and glared daggers at the man across from him. "Are you going to make us act out what we think our deaths will be like before you kill us?"

Masuda looked over at Ryo and then back at the man in question, his eyes widening. "Wait... the drama professor?"

"Now, Ryota--or should I say Ryo? You really didn't make much of an effort picking a fake name, did you?" The professor paused for a split second before continuing, not waiting for a real answer. "I wanted to let you go, but I really don't have a choice. If I'd let you leave, you would have eventually realized that your little ghost trick didn't really solve anything, and then you would have been back, sticking your noses where they didn't belong and trying to stop me. I really don't have any choice but to let my little pet kill you."

"Why, because we wanted to stop you from setting your little bitch over there on innocent students?"

Tegoshi let out a low growl and narrowed his eyes at Ryo, his lips stretched tight across his teeth. He took a small step forward and Masuda tensed, preparing to throw himself sideways if he lunged at Ryo, but the movement never came. Tegoshi just stood there immobile instead, body taut like it was being held back by some invisible force as he continued to growl low in his throat and throw the professor slightly impatient sideways glances. Like he was waiting for permission.

"It's not very wise to talk to me that way when my pet's around. He gets a bit overprotective."

Masuda glanced from Tegoshi to the professor and back again and felt his mouth go dry. "He's not a demon."

"What?" Ryo turned a confused look on him and across from him the professor smiled. "What do you mean?"

"It said it wasn't a demon earlier to me."

"Demons lie all the time. You know that."

"That's what I thought, too, but a demon wouldn't be this obedient. Not to a human."

Ryo's eyes widened as he turned to look, really look at Tegoshi, practically snarling at them from across the room. "You stupid bastard. You summoned an Inugami, didn't you?"

The professor laughed. "He's a gifted actor but he's not really that bright, is he?"

"Fuck you--"

"Ryo," Masuda cut him off, his voice low and urgent as he turned to give the professor a cautious look. "Do you have any idea what you're messing with here?"

The professor snorted, turning to give Tegoshi a brief pat on the head. "I'm not messing with anything. I merely summoned a loyal servant capable of carrying out my wishes."

"It's a _death spirit_ ," Ryo hissed out, face wary as the professor leaned over, whispering a quiet command in Tegoshi's ear and the younger man closed the distance between himself and Ryo with surprising speed. Masuda heard Ryo suck in a sharp breath before he had time to realize that Tegoshi was kneeling between them, pressing the curve of his blade to Ryo's throat with a wicked smile.

"And it's under my control. It doesn't act without my orders." The professor sighed, clucking his tongue and giving Ryo and Masuda both a look that would have seemed understanding in any other circumstances. "It hasn't killed anyone, you know. Granted, that's about to change with you two, but up until now it really hasn't done that much harm. Made a few problem students who were making things difficult for myself and the department go a little crazy, but nothing lasting. Give it a few months and I'm sure they'll all be back to normal."

"It doesn't matter," Masuda said, his voice almost too loud in his own ears as he struggled to keep it from wavering. He could hear Ryo gasp softly as Tegoshi pressed his knife tighter against his skin, stopping only when the first hint of blood welled up against the blade. "You think you have it under control now, but you don't. These things will only take orders for so long and then they slip their leash, and when that happens it's going to come for you."

"I don't think so." The professor laughed, the sound soft and self-assured, and Masuda had to admit that Ryo's assessment of him had been entirely too accurate. Only a complete douchebag would play around with the type of dark magic that it took to summon up this kind of spirit and be arrogant enough to think that it wouldn't backfire. "I think it will keep doing whatever I tell it to do. It's very obedient. Just like a real dog, only with less mess to clean up after."

"Dogs turn on their masters all the time. This thing _will_ turn on you and it won't be pretty. We've seen it happen." Ryo made a soft, pained noise beside him and Masuda fought the urge to turn and look at him, keeping his eyes trained on the professor instead, trying to keep the man's attention on him, hoping to distract him from Tegoshi and the knife he had pressed against Ryo's throat. If he could just buy them some time, then maybe he could figure out a way out of this. Preferably one that ended with everyone alive.

"Obviously those people were weak and didn't know how to keep their pets in line. That or the two of you charged in there half-cocked and mucked things up, which really wouldn't surprise me. You don't seem terribly good at what you do." The professor strode forward to stand in front of Masuda, forcing him to tilt his head back to meet his eyes. "You had no idea what was going on here. It was disgustingly easy to let my pet use your friend to fool you into thinking this was the work of some ghost and then lure you both in here."

Ryo gave another hiss of pain beside him, as if right on cue, and Masuda's eyes widened, his voice catching. "If you let that thing spill blood it will never stop. Call it off while you still can."

"You know I can't just let you go." The professor leaned in closer, tilting his head to the side as he studied Masuda's face thoughtfully. "You and Ryo are close, aren't you? The cousins story was obviously a lie, but you've got some sort of connection. It would make you sad to see him hurt, wouldn't it?"

Masuda swallowed, his gaze sliding to the side automatically, watching Ryo briefly out of the corner of his eye. He had his teeth clenched and his neck pulled taut where Tegoshi was forcing his head back, his face a mask of anger, but even looking at him sideways, Masuda could see the fear in his eyes and his heart sank a little. He had no idea how to get them out of this.

"I was going to have my pet slit his throat while you watched, but I think I have a better idea." The professor pursed his lips, giving Ryo a long, appraising look before shifting his gaze to Tegoshi's face. "Cut him loose."

"What?" Masuda tensed, thinking for one terrible moment that the professor's words held some hidden meaning, but when he turned to look Tegoshi had lowered the knife from Ryo's throat and was sawing through the ropes binding his wrists and ankles with quick, efficient movements. Ryo tilted his head forward and turned to meet Masuda's eyes, his expression mirroring the other's confusion.

"I thought you couldn't let us go." Ryo ground out, obviously resisting the urge to lunge forward in some sort of suicidal bid to take the other down. Masuda watched him out of the corner of his eye and willed him not to do anything stupid.

"I'm not letting you go. Just making a slight change in plans." The professor rose from his crouch and motioned to Tegoshi. "I don't really like Masuda's little friend very much. He was useful, but not someone I think I want to keep around. You, on the other hand... I wasn't lying when I said you had talent. You'd be a real asset to keep around the department."

The look on Ryo's face was caught somewhere between disbelief and horrified amusement. "So, what, you want to keep me around so I can act in your stupid plays and be your class pet?"

"More or less. My pet seems to be easier to control when he has a body to possess. It just seems poetic that it should be yours."

"You can't." Masuda's heartbeat sped at that, his expression more than a little desperate as he tried to think of some way to plead their way out of this. Death was bad enough, but spending your life with an angry spirit riding your body, aware but completely out of control of your actions--that was more than anyone could handle. "Take me instead. I won't fight you. Take me and let Ryo and Tegoshi go."

" _Takahisa_ ," Ryo hissed, the word a sharp warning. Masuda couldn't remember the last time Ryo had used his first name, if he ever had. Masuda paused just long enough to throw Ryo an apologetic look.

"I mean it. Take me."

The professor seemed to consider for a long, breathless moment before he shook his head and his lips curved into a smile that held absolutely no warmth. "Nice offer, but I think I'm going to have to turn you down. It looks like my pet's already made the decision for me."

Masuda's whipped his head around to look at Ryo, taking in the tension in his shoulders and the way his hair fell around the side of his face, hiding his eyes. Masuda breathed out his name quietly, trying to get his attention before a soft gasp made him look away, only to see Tegoshi staring at him over Ryo's shoulder, looking dazed. There was a loud clatter as the knife slipped from Tegoshi's fingers and fell to the stage floor, the sound almost deafening against the silence of the room.

"Massu... what's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," the professor assured him, his voice deceptively kind. His tone set off alarm bells in Masuda's head, but he didn't have a chance to give Tegoshi any kind of explanation or warning before Ryo let out a low growl and lifted his arm, smashing his elbow back against Tegoshi's face and sending the other sprawling.

"Tegoshi!" Masuda struggled against his bindings in a vain attempt to reach his friend, but a hand around his throat and a low laugh, so familiar and yet so very, very wrong stopped him. "I wouldn't worry about him. By the time we take care of him you'll already be dead."

Masuda swallowed, gasping as the hand around his throat tightened, lifting him up and forcing him to his feet, his back to the wall.

In front of him, Ryo smiled in a way that was completely alien and leaned in, his voice a low growl against his ear. "Don't worry. I promise I'll make it quick."

\--

"This isn't you." Masuda's voice was calm, but Ryo could smell the fear rolling off him in waves and it only made him smile wider, closing his eyes and leaning in to breathe it all in deeply, something dark and hidden inside of him devouring the scent.

Masuda wasn't trembling yet, but he was tense, muscles wound tight like the strings on the beat up guitar Ryo kept in their backseat got right before they snapped. Ryo could still remember the look on Masuda's face the first time he'd played for him, his fingers clumsy with nerves and his head ducked, avoiding looking at the other's face as he tried to focus on the song. He remembered Masuda's applause afterwards and the grin on his face, bright and happy, like his skin wasn't still red from the hour long shower that he'd taken to wash away all the blood from their latest job; like they were just two normal guys on a road trip somewhere, holed up in a cheap motel together while Ryo entertained them both with stupid songs.

Even then, there'd been something dark inside of him, just waiting to be let out.

"How can you be so sure?" Ryo pulled away to look in Masuda's eyes and laughed at the stubbornness he could see there, fighting with the other's fear. That stubborness was one of the things that Ryo had always loved about Masuda. That even with someone like Ryo, he could give as good as he got when he felt really strongly about something.

Not that it would do him any good now. Not when Ryo had the knife in his hands and orders that he knew he needed--no, _wanted_ to fulfill.

Masusda had to die because his master said so, and the darkness curled up inside Ryo's belly wanted it to happen.

"Because I know you."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

\--

"Please, Ryo." Masuda swallowed back a surge of panic as he felt Ryo press the knife harder against his throat, the blade stinging as it cut into his skin just enough to leave a thin line of blood behind. His mind worked frantically, trying to think of some way out of this. He didn't have anything on him that was powerful enough to drive the spirit away long enough to let Ryo regain control of himself, and even if he had, he wouldn't have had a hand free to use it.

He didn't even have the reassurance that Ryo was there to back him up if he really needed it, to charge in and save the day if Masuda fucked things up too badly or made the wrong choice. If he didn't figure this out soon, that thing would make Ryo kill him and even if Ryo managed to eventually get free of it, Masuda knew that he would never, ever forgive himself.

So, Masuda really had no choice but to think of something and think of it fast, because he wasn't about to let that happen.

Ryo seemed to read the determination in Masuda's eyes and picked that moment to press the knife a bit deeper into his skin, sending a warm trickle of blood down his neck and pulling a sharp, pained hiss from between his teeth. The professor, who Masuda had actually managed to forget about momentarily, stepped forward and ran a hand through Ryo's hair, clucking his tongue disapprovingly.

"No killing him just yet. Wait until I give the order, remember?" He smiled and Masuda felt his stomach lurch, realizing just how much this guy was getting off on ordering the spirit around. It shouldn't have been a surprise, really, given the type of people that usually liked to dabble in this type of black magic, but even with as many power junkies as they'd dealt with in the past, it still made him feel slightly ill.

Ryo turned to look at the professor, his eyes glinting red as the other man walked away, moving to stand over Tegoshi with a slight smile. "Maybe I'll have you take care of this one while Masuda watches. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"

Ryo growled low in his throat and kept his eyes fixed on the professor's back, his jaw clenched tight and his expression one of barely controlled anger. Masuda could feel the tension running through his body, like it was all he could do to keep himself from snapping and he felt his heart start to beat frantically at the seed of hope forming in his chest.

It was a long shot, but he might have just found their way out of this mess.

"He's not worthy of you, you know." Masuda kept his voice low, trying to gauge Ryo's reaction as he spoke, his words escaping him in a nervous rush.. "He doesn't know what he's really dealing with."

Ryo blinked, turning his head slowly to meet Masuda's eyes, his own flashing a quick, dangerous red. "That's my master you're talking about."

"He doesn't deserve to be." Masuda gasped softly as Ryo leaned in closer, his breath hot against the side of his face as he growled a warning. Masuda swallowed and forced down his panic, trying not to stumble over his words. "I know the things that you can do. I know how strong you are on your own, but you're letting yourself be controlled by someone who doesn't even understand what you are."

Ryo growled again, but the sound was less fierce this time, almost slightly questioning. "He doesn't have to understand. He just has to tell me what to do, so I can obey."

"But you don't have to just obey. You could give yourself your own orders. You wouldn't have to listen to him anymore, or anyone. You wouldn't have to let him use you."

"You--pet." The professor chose that moment to interrupt them, his voice full of the same smugness that it had held all night, smugness that Masuda was really starting to hate. "Stop playing with that one and come here."

Ryo whipped his head around, the whites of his eyes tinged red as he narrowed his eyes at the professor and stood there, unmoving.

The professor didn't seem impressed by this, his mouth pulling into a thin line as he gave Ryo an angry look. Masuda had just a moment to think that he wouldn't have wanted to be a student on the receiving end of that look before he barked out an order. "Did you hear me? I said let him go and come here."

Masuda could feel Ryo's arms tense and hear the low rumble rising in his throat. He sucked in a breath, watching Ryo's expression out of the corner of his eye and waiting.

"That's an order. Here. _Now_." The professor had barely finished the words before Masuda felt the air start to shift around him, starting as a light breeze that ruffled the hair at the base of his neck and growing stronger as Ryo's eyes started to shine red.

"No."

"What?" The expression on the professor's face was almost comical as he gaped at Ryo, looking at an utter loss for a moment before he regained his composure and strode across the stage, stopping a few steps from Ryo and leaning in to whisper dangerously.

"You can't tell me no. I give the orders here. I _own_ you."

Ryo dropped his hand from Masuda's neck and let him go, sending Masuda crashing onto his backside against the stage as he turned to face the professor, a dangerous smile on his lips and a low, rough laugh rising in his throat. "I don't think I want to listen to your orders anymore."

"You don't have a choice."

"Yes, I do." Ryo laughed again and lifted the knife. Masuda could see the fear flash in the professor's eyes as he waved it in the air in front of him before tossing it to the side and reaching out, pushing his palm flat against the other man's chest.

"What are you--" he started, trying to back away from Ryo's hand, but some unseen force held him there, wide eyed and shaking as Ryo's eyes glowed a sickening crimson. It was like time froze for a moment, leaving Masuda stuck there in an unending moment, watching the professor try to struggle away from Ryo's hand while Ryo sneered in a way that was nothing like the Ryo that Masuda knew.

And then, finally, the stalemate broke and Ryo curled his hand into a fist against the other's chest slowly. Masuda could see the air start to shimmer and caught the first whiff of burning flesh before the professor burst into flames with a horrified scream, Ryo's hand holding him there, body squirming while the flames consumed him.

Masuda watched, wide eyed and horrified, the smell of burning flesh enough to make bile rise in the back of his throat. Just when he thought he might be sick all over the stage it was over, Ryo's hand dropping to his side as the professor's soot covered suit dropped to the stage, empty of any evidence that the person who had so recently been wearing it had existed at all, save for a sad pile of ashes.

Masuda swallowed and stared at it in vague horror, feeling a short lived pang of guilt. He'd known that if the spirit turned on its master the end result wouldn't be pretty, but he still hadn't thought it would be anything like that. All he'd been worried about was getting himself and Ryo and Tegoshi out of this alive.

Masuda's introspection was cut off by a brief growl and he looked away from the still smoking pile of clothing and up at Ryo, shivering at the unnatural smile that the other was still wearing.

"I'm supposed to kill you." Ryo took a step forward, crouching in front of Masuda and eying him curiously, as if he'd never really taken the time to look at him close up before. Although he supposed that the creature looking out through Ryo's eyes actually hadn't. "But I don't have to follow those orders anymore. And I don't think I want to."

Masuda let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding and nodding slowly, his voice cautious. "What about Ryo?"

"I don't think I want to kill him, either."

"What about his body? Will you give it back to him?"

Ryo pursed his lips in thought and seemed to consider for a long moment before nodding slowly. "Yes, I think I will."

"Thank you," Masuda breathed, his voice catching as Ryo smiled at him then closed his eyes. He could feel the air shift around them again as Ryo let out a long, low sigh, lips still curled into a smile as he slumped over onto his side.

"Ryo?" Masuda leaned forward, nudging the other's still form awkwardly with his shoulder and letting out a soft sigh of relief when Ryo's eyes fluttered open and he got a grumpy moan in response. He sat back then, taking a deep breath and trying to keep himself calm and not think too hard about how close they'd all just come to being casualties of some crazy man's spirit powered career goals.

Ryo groaned again and sat up slowly, his hand clutching at his head as he gave Masuda a dirty, tired look that Masuda answered with a shaky smile.

"You okay?"

"I've been worse," Ryo mumbled, voice rough as he dropped his hand and softened his expression from death glare to mild annoyance. "How did you know that would work, getting it to turn on him like that?"

Masuda laughed, the sound short and nervous. "I didn't. I just couldn't think of anything else."

Ryo let out a groan that was more nervous than annoyed. "Please promise me you'll never do that again."

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," Masuda admitted with another soft laugh. Ryo echoed it and grabbed the knife with fingers that only trembled slightly and crawled around to cut the ties still binding Masuda's ankles and wrists. Masuda sighed in relief and pulled his hands in front of him, trying to rub some of the numbess out of his hands. He heard Ryo toss the knife somewhere to the side and turned to give him a smile, caught a little off guard by the look that the other was giving him, full of hurt and reluctance and more guilt than Masuda could ever remember seeing there.

"You're still bleeding." Ryo's reached up, fingertips shaking as he wiped the blood from Masuda's neck, his eyes narrowed as he leaned in to inspect the cut marring his skin carefully.

"I'm fine." Masuda smiled and let him fuss for a minute before pushing him away gently. "It's just a scratch."

"It's deeper than a scratch," Ryo mumbled, his voice subdued as he reached up, catching Masuda's hand where the other was about to prod at the gash on his temple in return. If Ryo was going to fuss over him then it was only fair for Masuda to fuss over Ryo in return. "I'm fine. We should check on your friend."

Masuda started to argue but stopped, deciding that he could push later. Ryo was conscious and _himself_ and not bleeding out all over the floor and that would have to be enough for now. He turned and crawled across the few feet separating him from Tegoshi and called out the other's name softly, leaning in to inspect the damage. "Tegoshi--hey, Tego, wake up. Come on, let me know you're okay."

Tegoshi groaned softly and lifted a hand, swatting at him halfheartedly. Masuda smiled a little at that and ran his hands through the other's hair, feeling the lump where the back of his head had hit the stage gently and earning another complaint. He'd never been so happy to hear Tegoshi whine at him in his life.

"How is he?" Ryo slid up beside them, voice and eyes guilty as he eyed the bruise blossoming across Tegoshi's cheekbone and the swelling around his right eye.

"We should probably get him to the hospital to get the bump on the back of his head checked out, but I think he should be okay. He's already being difficult, so it can't be that bad."

Tegoshi groaned again, his eyes opening to slits as he mumbled something unintelligible but no doubt none too friendly and reached to swat at Masuda again, as if on cue.

Ryo nodded, looking relieved and, if possible, even more guilty. "I'll go call an ambulance and hide Professor Ash Pile over there. You stay with him."

Ryo turned and started to stand to leave but Masuda reached up, grabbing his sleeve to hold him in place. "Ryo, I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth."

Ryo looked at him blankly, frozen in a half-crouch, taking a moment to process the other's meaning before he shook his head and tried to pull away. "It's okay. It's none of my business, anyway."

"Ryo--" Masuda tightened his grip on Ryo's sleeve.

"No, I mean it. Your past is your past. I'm not a part of it."

"Things might have changed a lot for me in the past few years-- _I_ might have changed a lot, but me in the past and me today are still the _same person_." Masuda sighed and shook his head, looking at Ryo with an expression that was as uncertain as it was pleading. "My past is still a part of who I am--"

"I know. That's why I'd never ask you to give it up."

"No--just shut up for a minute and let me finish, okay?" Masuda snapped, earning a surprised look from Ryo. He swallowed, his eyes apologetic as he tugged on Ryo's sleeve, urging the other back down onto his knees beside him. "My past is part of who I am, and who I _am_ is your partner, Ryo. Your _friend_. I owe it to you to let you know that side of me, too and I shouldn't have lied about Tegoshi. So, I'm sorry."

Ryo swallowed, his expression unreadable as he stared at him, the silence stretching out between them. Masuda fought the urge to look away or squirm until, finally, Ryo seemed to come to a decision and his lips curled into a genuine, if hesitant, smile. "I think I'd like knowing more about you."

"You would?"

"Yeah." Ryo's smile widened into something so genuine and bright that Masuda returned it without even thinking. "But you have to make me a promise."

"I--sure. I can do that."

"If we meet any more of your old friends, they're not going to try to kill me."

Masuda laughed and nodded, surprising himself with just how relieved his voice sounded. "I'm not making any promises."

**One Week Later**

"So, basically what you're telling me is that every scary story that anyone has ever told me is real." Tegoshi took a bite of his cake, eyes moving from Ryo's face and then back to Masuda's for comfirmation.

All things considered, Tegoshi was taking the news that ghosts and monsters were real and that Masuda and Ryo spent their time traveling around, banishing and killing them and in general just smiting everything that they could, really well. Ryo had commented to Masuda that he thought he was taking it a bit _too_ well and had given Tegoshi some funny looks before Masuda assured him that that was a completely normal reaction for the other. Ryo had calmed down after that and started to warm up to Tegoshi with a sort of wary reluctance, much to Masuda's relief. He didn't really need Ryo thinking he needed to slip holy water in Tegoshi's drink everytime he saw him _just in case_. Now that he'd decided to be honest with both Ryo and Tegoshi, he found he really, desperately wanted them to get along.

So far, it was going alright. They were both still a little prickly and uncertain around each other, but they seem to have made some sort of unspoken agreement to at least get along for Masuda's sake, and for now that was enough.

Not that he'd have to worry about that for awhile after tonight, since he and Ryo were finally leaving in the morning and had no idea when they'd be back.

"Not all of those stories are real, you know." Masuda smiled across the table at Tegoshi, attention snapping back to the conversation. "Fan death is a total load of crap."

"As far as we know, anyway," Ryo added, using the voice that Masuda recognized as his attempt at sounding ominous. Masuda and Tegoshi both laughed and shook their heads while Ryo looked slightly offended. "Hey, you never know. Just because we haven't seen it doesn't mean it can't happen."

Masuda sipped at his coke and refrained from pointing out that Ryo had called fan death a "load of horse shit" quite loudly on numerous occasions.

"I wonder if anyone has ever thought to study the psychology behind all of this." Tegoshi gave them both a thoughtful look, the one that Masuda knew usually meant trouble. It was the same look he'd always gotten right before he'd spouted off some brilliant idea that usually ended up getting them both grounded for a week.

"Behind fan death?"

"No." Tegoshi's eyes lit up a little as he looked at Ryo and Masuda sighed and bit his cheek to keep from asking Ryo to please not encourage him. He'd have to learn on his own eventually. "Behind ghosts and monsters and all of this stuff. What makes them tick."

"They're ghosts and monsters and creepy supernatural shit. Why do you need to know what makes them tick?" Ryo looked at Tegoshi like it physically hurt to be having this conversation. "All you need to know is how to get rid of them."

"But that's just it. With the right psychology, maybe you could help them heal and move on."

"So, what, you want to go out and start giving therapy sessions to every random kappa you run across?"

Masuda snorted, ignoring the simultaneous annoyed looks that they both gave him.

"No," Tegoshi answered with a slight smile, pretending like they hadn't been interrupted. "But imagine the research you could do with this. If we knew more about what makes these things tick, maybe we'd know more about what makes us tick. Imagine the grants you could get for that kind of thing."

Ryo snorted. "I can see why you and Massu are friends. You're both idiots."

"And you're friends with Massu, so what does that say about you?" Tegoshi's grin widened as Ryo opened his mouth and then shut it again quickly, looking like he actually wasn't quite sure how to answer. He threw Masuda an "are you going to let him talk to me like that" look, but Masuda just shrugged and smiled at him helplessly.

"Whatever. That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

Tegoshi grinned and turned to Masuda. "You know what you guys remind me of? Those books about the brothers who travel around killing things by what's his name... Carver Edlund."

"Supernatural?" Masuda supplied with a quiet sigh while Ryo groaned beside him.

"Yes, Supernatural! You've read them?"

"Not exactly." Masuda smiled and glanced sideways at Ryo, who seemed to have developed a sudden interest in his coke and was staring at it like his life depended on it. Tegoshi, who could be surprisingly perceptive when he chose to be, followed the look and broke out into a wide, knowing grin.

"You read them, Ryo?"

Ryo looked up suddenly, scowling in an effort to cover up his embarrassment. Unfortunately his ears were a bit too crimson for it to be effective. "I've looked at a couple when I was bored and didn't have anything else to read."

Masuda covered his mouth and coughed to cover up a laugh, earning him a dirty look from Ryo and a curious one from Tegoshi. He knew for a fact that Ryo had read every book in the series that had been translated into Japanese so far--and a few that had unofficial fan translations up online--but he really didn't think the other would appreciate him telling Tegoshi that and Masuda had come close enough to being killed once this week already.

"So are your lives really as exciting as the books, then?" Tegoshi leaned forward and Masuda couldn't quite tell if he was just trying to get a rise out of Ryo or if he was honestly curious.

"Not quite that exciting," Masuda answered, laughing a little.

"No muscle cars or sawed off shotguns for you, then?"

"Those are a bit harder to get your hands on in Japan," Ryo mumbled beside him, looking slightly disappointed. Ryo had brought up the whole issue of sawed off shotguns and salt rounds once and had seemed pretty excited about the whole idea until Masuda reminded him that they couldn't really carry them around without risking getting stopped by the cops and the whole hunting for deer excuse probably wouldn't fly that well in Japan. Not that you used sawed offs for hunting actual animals, but it had gotten the idea across to Ryo. After he'd sulked for a few days.

"We don't cry that much, either," Masuda added, earning another glare from his partner.

Tegoshi laughed and reached for his drink, sipping it thoughtfully as silence fell across the table. They'd all finished their meals and it was almost time for them to leave and go their separate ways, but he found himself wanting to linger just a little longer.

Tegoshi seemed to be having the same thoughts because he met Masuda's eyes across the table and gave him a teasing smile. "So, are you going to use your hunter skills to disappear on me again, Massu?"

"No." Masuda shook his head and looked away from the other, embarrassed. "I have your number and email now. I promise I'll stay in touch."

"I hope so. I missed you while you were gone, you know."

Masuda looked up and smiled at the other sadly. "Yeah, me too."

"Jesus, you two are such girls." Ryo gave Masuda a look that said he really didn't approve of all the feelings being shared at the moment and then frowned at Tegoshi across the table. "You don't have to worry about him dropping off the face of the Earth again. I'll make sure he calls you, okay?"

Tegoshi nodded, his expression stunned. "Thanks."

Ryo shrugged and turned his attention back to his coke. "Don't mention it. If it stops you two from having a full blown chick flick moment, that's enough for me."

Masuda smiled at Ryo and then shared a look with Tegoshi across the table and made a promise to himself that he'd drag Ryo back to visit someday soon.

After all, they could both use a few more chick flick moments in their lives.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few handy links left out of the beginning-of-fic notes in order to avoid potential spoilers: [kappa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_\(folklore\)), [inugami](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inugami) and [fan death](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death)\--that link only talks about South Korea, but it's also a pretty popular Urban Legend in Japan.


End file.
